Vietnamese businesses and experts in the fishing industry have warned about the adverse effect of increasing exports to China while missing out on major markets like the U.S., the EU and Japan, which will not accept the same products because they consider them substandard.

In October 2015, Vietnamese seafood exports to multiple foreign markets fell 15-60 percent compared with the same period in 2014, but the shipments to China rose nearly 19 percent year on year, according to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP).

Specifically, Vietnamese catfish exports to the neighboring country leapt by over 50 percent.

In the first 10 months of this year, seafood exports from Vietnam to China reached more than US$500 million, making it the third biggest import market for Vietnamese fishing products after the U.S. and Japan, the VASEP said…

Vietnamese firms, whose products have been returned from strict markets like Japan, the U.S., and the EU because of excess antibiotic and chemical residues in their fish, have found that it is easier to ship to China, which has more relaxed regulations…

Australia has also announced it would stop importing Vietnamese seafood if the rate of violations in antibiotic residue increases, without stating specific numbers, the ministry said.